BONY FISHES. 317 



no spines, and are abdominal if present ; excepting in 

 one family, the air-bladder has a duct. 



The order includes the common catfish, frequently 

 called bull-head, the minnow, chub, sucker, carp, gold- 

 fish, trout, salmon, pike, muskallunge, smelt, herring, 

 shad, sardine, anchovy, menhaden, electric eel, common 

 eel, and conger eel. 



The catfish sometimes attains a great length. It has, 

 as have several others of this order, barbels on the upper 

 and lower jaws, and it is well armed with sharp rays on 

 the dorsal and pectoral fins, which require great care in 

 handling. The minnow and chub are common in nearly 

 all our streams and 

 lakes. Carp are beau- FIG. 274. 



tiful fish in the water, 

 their scales reflecting 

 a silvery light ; some 

 species have barbels, 

 some have none ; their 

 ordinary length is one 



or two feet, but they have been caught as long as five. 

 The sucker is a sort of carp, and so is the gold-fish, 



Of all fresh-water fish none are more highly es- 

 teemed for the table, for their beauty, and for the sport 

 of taking them than the trout and the salmon, but the 

 salmon is not really a fresh-water fish ; it leaves the 

 deep ocean in spring and ascends rivers almost to their 

 sources for the purpose of spawning ; during this season 

 it is fished for. The flesh of both the salmon and trout 

 is reddish and very palatable. Trout seek the coldest 

 and most rapid waters. 



The pike and pickerel have beak-shaped noses, and are 

 exceedingly voracious, devouring nearly all other fish 



27* 



